Samuel Leeds almost died in 2018 when he fell down a waterfall, while he was working on a project to bring water to remote villages in Uganda. After his legs were saved by the doctor on duty, Dr Jamirah Namusoke, Samuel promised to return and provide desperately needed medical facilities.
Last week the 33-year-old cut the ribbon on The Samuel Leeds Ward at Jinja Referral Hospital, which has 64 beds and will provide care for a region with a population of five million people. The ceremony was broadcast live on television.
He said: “At the time there were only a handful of orthopaedic surgeons in the entire country and by a stroke of luck one of them was on hand to operate on me. Her name was Dr Jamirah Namusoke and she did an incredible job on me.
“She skilfully rebuilt my kneecap by wiring all the pieces of bone together. I’ll never forget what she did. When I got home doctors told me I would never walk properly again, but I made a full recovery. I wouldn’t be walking properly now if it wasn’t for her. She is a beautiful person and was my guardian angel when I hit rock bottom.”
He added: “Whilst I was there, I saw the drastic need for better facilities. There was hardly any space to move and apart from Dr Namusoke there were no other orthopaedic surgeons onsite. The new ward will be filled with new doctors, nurses and resident surgeons all reporting to her
“When I recovered from my injuries back home, I decided I should go one better and build an entire ward. I went back to Uganda and told Dr Namusoke what I was going to do. I don’t think she could believe it at the time, but she certainly does now.
“She came to see me after the official opening, and we went out for a celebratory dinner together. She is over the moon about the hospital.”
The multi-millionaire, who grew up on a Walsall council estate, is a property developer in the UK and used his skills to make a difference in Africa.
Mr Leeds and his development team took on all the project management to ensure everything was done to a high standard and represented value for money.
He said: “We handled everything from setting construction deadlines to negotiating the cost of all materials. We only contracted local labourers, and we built it for one billion Ugandan shillings (around £300,000) in just seven months. Even though money goes a very long way in Uganda, that was an exceptional achievement.
“We were initially told it could cost anything between £900,000 and £1.8m and take three years to complete. However, I’m an experienced property developer and my wife Amanda is a highly skilled quantity surveyor.
“I’m so thankful to everyone in my team who worked incredibly hard and with amazing efficiency to make this happen in such a short time.”
After cutting the ribbon to open the new orthopaedic ward, the multi-millionaire was personally thanked by First Deputy Prime Minister of Uganda, Rebecca Kadaga. He was also interviewed live on a national TV news channel and has received an invitation to return to the country to meet the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni.
The 72,000 sq ft hospital building contains 64 beds and is the biggest development the entrepreneur has built from scratch.
The father-of-three says the full magnitude of the week didn’t hit him until he got to the airport to fly back to the UK.
He said: “I felt incredibly happy and proud during the opening ceremonies, but at the airport I suddenly became completely overwhelmed with emotion.
“I come from a modest background. I left school in Walsall at 16 with virtually no qualifications to my name which is why I thought I’d end up on the bins. But then I discovered success at school doesn’t equate to success in life.
“I started out with nothing and at 33 I’m worth around £20m. I hope that sends a strong message of hope to all school leavers who might be struggling academically. At the airport it hit me just how incredibly blessed I am to now be in a position where I can support communities so desperately in need of help. I was also full of emotion because of my own experience at the hospital.
“I’m a Christian and believe I was at that hospital for a reason. This new ward will provide life-changing care for countless patients. I pray it will be a legacy which could help many generations to come.”
The Samuel Leeds School is not the first educational establishment Mr Leeds has financed in Uganda. After visiting the Bulubandi Primary School in Iganga, he was appalled by the state of the facilities and pledged to do something about it.
The new Samuel Leeds School Hall was officially opened in October 2022. It has turned out to be an outstanding success, drawing in hundreds more pupils from outlying villages.
There are now nearly 2,500 youngsters who will soon be taught financial literacy and other business skills in addition to traditional studies.
The teaching of entrepreneurial skills is of such importance to Mr Leeds he made it a condition when offering to finance the new Samuel Leeds School.
He said: “It is a fee-paying school, but it will only be a minimal amount of £3 a month. The reason we have done that is to drum into the pupils that nothing in life is free. They need to appreciate that in business they should be prepared to invest in themselves before they can expect others to invest in them.
“I have complete faith that pupils at this school will go on to achieve massive business success and wealth. That will also be brilliant for the country as a whole and I am confident they will want to help other people in the country. When you’re extremely wealthy, changing people’s lives for the better can become a very healthy addiction.”